Gold and Wagner won bronze medals earlier in Sochi as part of the U.S. team in the first-ever Olympic team figure skating event.

Kim was attempting to become the first back-to-back women's figure skating Olympic gold medalist since Katarina Witt in 1984 and 1988 and only the third overall with Sonja Henie, who actually won three straight in 1928, 1932 and 1936.

Russian skater Julia Lipnitskaia, who won both the short and long programs to help Russia win gold in the team event, sat in fifth place after the short programs. The 15-year-old fell on a triple flip in her short program, but rebounded in the free skate to finish sixth.

Japan's Mao Asada, seen as a medal favorite in Sochi after winning a silver in Vancouver, had four major mistakes in her short program and fell to 16th. She rebounded on Thursday, delivering a 142.71 for the second-best free skate to finish in sixth overall.